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Implications of Stephen Drew, and more

I can sense the hordes
of angry pinstripers gathering their torches and pitchforks now. They are
marching the long road to the Bronx and more specifically, Brian Cashman’s
office. Once there they will take him to the town square and have him publicly
shamed for his betrayal of Yankee nation, as he has just re-signed Stephen
Drew.

(photo via nydailynews.com)

Any Yankee fan on
Twitter won’t have to look far to find the “OMG NOT Stephen Drew” tweets that
have been flooding in since the announcement of the signing of Stephen Drew to
a one year, $5 million deal.

Drew performed pretty
poorly after missing the first two months of the year holding out as a result
of the qualifying offer penalty attached to him discouraging any suitors from
signing him to the contract he was looking for. However, Kendrys Morales, much
like Drew, had a solid 2013 before also suffering steep regression following
holding out and missing most the year as well. In other words, I think missing
spring training and several months of the season had a big impact on these guys
and given the chance to start fresh in spring they should enjoy bounce back
years.

Even if he doesn’t
there are plenty of reasons that this Stephen Drew signing is a great one and
in the end is low risk/high reward, win/win, or whatever you would like to call
it and I will be breaking it down below.

Stephen
Drew:

First, let’s talk about
Drew himself. I won’t sugar coat it, last year was pretty horrible for Drew. He
hit for a .150 AVG. and a -0.6 WAR which is clearly pretty horrendous, but
again keep in mind he missed quite a bit of crucial time which really hurt his
performance.

In 2013 he was a pretty
solid player hitting .253 with 13 HR, 67 RBIs, and a 3.1 WAR. Keep in mind he
had a full spring training and only missed time during the season for injury.
In fact this isn’t the only year Drew has turned in a good season and has had
several 2.9+ WAR and 10+ HR seasons.

Simply put, Stephen
Drew isn’t Derek Jeter or Robinson Cano, but has a real chance to be a bounce
back steal and be solid shortstop/second baseman for the low and manageable
price of only $5 million. In fact River Ave Blues reports the Drew Contract
accounts for less than 2% of the Yankees entire payroll.

If things go wrong, the
Yankees can easily cut ties and DFA him much like they did Brian Roberts the
past season. However, I think with a full spring training and playing in Yankee
Stadium, Drew has a real chance to surprise people and put up one of the best
seasons of his career playing for the Yankees.

Trade
Implications:

With his addition, Drew
will most likely be guaranteed a starting role. The result? It appears
Refsnyder and/or Pirela will become trade bait or at the very least won’t be
starting. I’m not in the majority on this one, but I personally prefer it this
way. In a previous article I highlighted some legitimate concerns about Rob Refsynder
and fear he
might end up a bust for the Yankees. After all, aside from
Brett Gardner, name one Yankee hitting prospect that’s turned out well in the bigs
since Robinson Cano. I do like Jose Pirela who has played well in the majors
even if it has been limited time, but Drew still may be the better option as
far as this year goes.

Thus, my first thought
was that both Refsynder and Pirela are likely now trade bait to help improve
the team elsewhere, but let’s remember Stephen Drew is more suited as a
shortstop and would likely be more comfortable there. However, most teams have
begun labeling Drew as a second basemen.

This is where the
Yankees offseason moves are finally started to make sense to me. Until then the
Yankee moves to acquire guys such as Didi Gregorius and Nathan Eovaldi for guys
like Shane Greene and Martin Prado seemed brainless at best. As I’ve detailed
in previous articles, we gave up quite a bit for young players, but these young
players are actually reclamation projects and haven’t exactly enjoyed any
sustained amount of major league success.

This is especially true
in the case of Didi Gregorius who was well below
league average offensively and defensively last year,
yet the Yankees claim he will be the opening day starter at shortstop. This was
puzzling to me that we would place such an inept player in such a vital role in
New York for a crucial bounce back season.

It was then brought to
my attention that the Philadelphia Phillies have had serious interest in Gregorius
and it all clicked. The Yankees have been trading for and have acquired quite a
pile of ‘prospects’ this offseason and this could all be in an effort to make a
trade these guys to fill a big hole on the team, preferably starting pitching.
Well, everyone knows the Phillies are looking to move Cole Hamels. In addition
to their previous interest in Cole Hamels, the Phillies just traded Jimmy Rollins
and now need a starting shortstop.

(photo via chatsports.com)

Starting to see it now?
All offseason long I’ve written the Yankees surely can’t think the current
rotation will help them compete and that improvement is needed to even stand a
chance this year. This could be hem doing just that. Cole Hamels hasn’t exactly
been Max Scherzer the last few years but he sported a 2.41 ERA last year with
ERA+ of 151. In other words, he was ace caliber.

I personally prefer
signing Max Scherzer as we will cost nothing more than money and a draft pick
but it allows the Yankees keep the prospects they would have to give up for
Hamels, but if Mad Max isn’t a serious consideration then by all means we
should pull the trigger on Hamels. A reasonable deal for both sides would look
something like Gregorius, Eovaldi, Gary Sanchez, and one other C+/B- prospect
for Hamels and some money towards paying his contract.

This is more than fair
considering the Rays got far less in
the David Price trade. The Phillies have a weakness at SS, C, and in their
rotation and these would be good guys to sell high on for a proven ace in
Hamels. I don’t think we would miss any of those guys we give up; so long as
Aaron Judge, Greg Bird, and Luis Severino stay, I’m happy. When you consider
the Yankees are the favorite to land Cuban super prospect Yoan Moncada, I think
you can afford to give a few high risk, high reward guys like those listed away
without any ill effect on the farm system.

(photo via yanksgoyard.com)

Also, for what it’s
worth, I read speculation that the Yankees could make a move for the Cincinnati
Red Johnny Cueto before the season starts. Cueto has been outstanding and I
would love him on the team, I’m just not sure what I think about giving up
prospects for a guy with only one year left on his contract. If he’s open to an
extension, go for it. If not, I say pass. Keep in mind the article was about
“Bold Predictions” so take this one with a grain of salt. I would say the
chances of it happening are less than 5%.

(photo via zimbio.com)

Liar,
Liar:

All offseason long I’ve
tried telling fell Yankee masses you should not believe what Yankee management
says to the media.

Here’s the thing about
the media and it’s not just limited to sports: Their primary goal is for hits,
reads, ratings, etc. They will twist words, take things out of context, in some
cases plain lie just to get attention for their articles, and thus, very few
reporters and members of the media actually do their job as it should be done.

The result is that no
GM in their right mind has any reason to be truthful with the media. They gain
absolutely nothing from it. What happens if Brian Cashman comes out and says
“Yes we certainly are in on Scherzer?”

Here’s what happens:
First he is playing his hand to all other 29 teams in the league who can now
move to either prevent him from making planned move or effectively plan to
counter said move. More importantly it gives Max Scherzer (err, Scott Boras)
immense negotiation leverage seeing as they would know how badly Cashman wants
to sign him.

This is why you’ve
heard lines like “Chase Headley is out of our price range” (they signed him)
and “the second base job will go to Rob Refsynder or Jose Pirela and Didi
Gregorius will play short” (Stephen Drew will in all likelihood be playing one
of those positions).

We’ve also heard the
line in which Cashman said Yankee fans shouldn’t expect to see Max Scherzer in
pinstripes. Well, the Yankees also denied involvement on Mark Teixeira in the
2008 offseason and where is he playing now?

No other teams have
been linked as interested in Scherzer or have a place in the rotation and money
needed to sign him. The Yankees make perfect sense as they have the best
combination of need and finances. If nothing else, the Yankees have a shot
simply based on no other interest in the ex Cy Young winner.

Heed my words. What the
team says publically means nothing.

The
Wrap:

In conclusion, the
Stephen Drew signing is pretty much a win-win all the way around. If he plays
well, great. He will be a bargain at only $5 million on the year. If he doesn’t
perform, $5 million can easily be eaten for him to go away and give the two
young 2B options a chance.

Additionally, this
could be the beginning of some big and much needed moves to improve the team
via the trade market for a guy like Hamels which would be a huge boost for what
is quite a shaky roster heading into a much improved AL East.

And like I said, this
should be proof the team has no reason to be honest with the media and has
quite the track record for doing so, for good reason. Expect the unexpected.
This is baseball. Anything can happen and it’s been pretty enjoyable to watch
so far.

Stay tuned fellow
Yankee fans as I get the feeling some big moves are on the horizon and we will
be here at the Bronx Bomber Blogger to keep you updated and give analysis on
all moves that occur as the Yankees make an effort to move towards championship
number 28.

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